Turn WebVTT (.vtt) subtitles from YouTube, Vimeo, Zoom, online courses and HTML5 players into SubRip (.srt) files that work in VLC, Premiere Pro, DaVinci Resolve, smart TVs and media servers. Paste text or drop several files, preview every cue and download them all as a ZIP.
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How to use the VTT to SRT
Drop your .vtt files on the box, click choose files, or paste WebVTT text into the left box. An example is loaded so you can see the result first.
Pick the options: keep italics or output plain text, decide how speaker names appear, and choose line endings.
Check the preview: drag the slider or click a row to see each cue; the notes under the table list what was removed.
Press Download .srt or Copy SRT. For several files, press Download all as ZIP.
Old TV or set-top box? Tick Add UTF-8 BOM so accented letters display correctly.
VTT and SRT side by side
The same cue in both formats. WebVTT adds a header, optional cue names and settings, and richer tags; SRT keeps only a number, the time and the text:
WebVTT is the caption format of the web: YouTube and Vimeo caption downloads, Zoom and Teams recording transcripts, online course platforms and every HTML5 <track> element use it. SRT is the format desktop and living-room software expects: VLC, Plex, Jellyfin and Kodi libraries, Premiere Pro, DaVinci Resolve, Final Cut Pro (via import), many smart TVs, and social platforms that accept caption uploads. Converting is lossless for the words and timings; only web-specific styling and positioning are dropped.
Cleaning automatic captions
Auto-generated captions are built for live, word-by-word display. A typical YouTube file repeats every line twice and contains hundreds of 10 ms cues, which looks like flickering, doubled text in a normal player. With the clean-up option the converter:
removes word-level timestamps such as <00:00:02.140> and <c> tags,
drops cues shorter than 50 ms,
removes the lines a cue repeats from the previous cue, keeping only the new line,
trims overlaps so only one cue is on screen at a time.
Automatic captions have no punctuation or speaker changes, so for a polished result edit the SRT text afterwards; the timings will already be clean.
Frequently asked questions
What gets removed when converting VTT to SRT?
Everything SRT players don't understand: the WEBVTT header line and metadata such as Kind and Language, NOTE comments, STYLE and REGION blocks, cue settings like align:start or line:0 after the timestamp, <c> class tags, <lang> tags, ruby annotations and inline karaoke timestamps. The subtitle text and timings are kept.
Does the converter keep italics and bold?
Yes, by default <i>, <b> and <u> are kept because most SRT players, including VLC, MPC-HC and many TVs, display them. Choose Plain text only if your editing software or TV shows the tags literally.
How do I convert YouTube VTT subtitles to SRT without repeated lines?
YouTube's automatic captions use rolling cues: each cue repeats the previous line and adds the new one, with tiny 10-millisecond cues in between and word-level timestamps. Leave Clean up rolling auto-captions ticked. The tool detects this pattern, drops the 10 ms cues and removes lines already shown, so the SRT shows each line once.
Why does SRT need cue numbers?
In SRT each block starts with a sequence number, then the timing line, then the text. Many VTT files have no cue identifiers or use names such as intro, so the converter numbers the cues 1, 2, 3 in order. Some strict players reject an SRT whose first line isn't 1.
What happens to speaker names in <v> tags?
WebVTT can mark the speaker with <v Maya>Hello</v>. SRT has no speaker field, so by default the name is written in front of the text as Maya: Hello, the usual convention in subtitles. You can choose to remove the names instead.
Should I choose CRLF or LF line endings?
The original SubRip program wrote Windows CRLF line endings, and some older hardware players and TVs only read those, so CRLF is the default. Modern software handles both, and LF is fine for Linux tools and most editors.
Is my subtitle file uploaded?
No. The file is read and converted by JavaScript in your browser tab, and the SRT is created on your device. Nothing is sent to a server.
Are all the tools on FreeToolCabin tested for quality and accuracy?
Yes! Every tool on our site undergoes automated Q/A testing in real browser environments to ensure high precision, correct output, and zero errors. If you happen to spot a bug or have a suggestion, please contact us at [email protected] and our team will review it right away.